Last month, the Local Government Commission (LGC), an oversight agency housed within the Office of the State Treasurer, flagged the Town of Zebulon to receive enhanced fiscal monitoring due to a lack of effective financial controls. This latest strike against the embattled town comes on the heels of five departures from Town Hall in a span of six months.
Zebulon’s “significant weaknesses in its oversight of disbursements,” “inadequate segregation of duties,” “recurring budget-to-actual variances,” and failure to “maintain the General Fund balance required by its own financial policy” landed it on the list, Christy Farrelly, the state treasurer’s deputy director of communications, wrote in an email to the INDY. All of these issues—along with others related to insufficient financial controls—were first identified in a July report by the State Auditor’s Office.
The LGC keeps a list of local governments that cause “concerns” related to their general fund, internal controls, and/or financial audits. Now that Zebulon is on the list—called the Unit Assistance List or UAL—town officials must get permission from the LGC before they sign certain contracts related to capital assets worth $50,000 or more, or purchase motor vehicles worth $50,000 or more. Town Manager Katy Crosby, who started in her role in December, must also receive six hours of fiscal-management education.
Zebulon’s communications director, Heather Finch, wrote in a statement that the town was already working to correct the issues in the state auditor’s report before the LGC stepped in, as evidenced by the online Progress Dashboard it launched in July.
The town “will work closely with the LGC, continue strengthening its financial management and internal controls, and provide updates as more information becomes available,” Finch wrote.
The INDY reached out to Zebulon Mayor Jessica Harrison and all five town commissioners with questions about the significance of the UAL designation and how they as a governing body were responding to it.
Commissioner George Roa wrote, in part, that “Residents should view the UAL designation as a serious signal that our financial and internal control systems need a thorough, objective review. … While it adds administrative steps, it is a necessary process to ensure our financial house is completely in order.”
Commissioner Shannon Baxter referred questions to Finch. The other commissioners did not respond.
Finance Director Placed on Administrative Leave
Zebulon cleared out most of its finance department after the state auditor’s damning July report. On August 3, a little over two weeks after the report came out, town officials announced that Bobby Fitts, Zebulon’s finance director since 1996, would retire at the end of August.
Also on August 3, Fitts was quietly placed on paid administrative leave, the INDY later learned through a public records request. Zebulon did not announce Fitts’ administrative leave, and he did not respond to INDY’s request for comment. At a town commission meeting that night, the commissioners named Town Manager Crosby as acting finance director effective immediately, without explaining why the appointment was necessary weeks before Fitts’ expected last day.
A spokesperson for the town did not respond to the INDY’s question about whether Fitts’ departure was related to the state auditor’s findings.
Crosby praised Fitts’ service to the town at the August 3 meeting, calling him a “stabilizing presence through a significant amount of organizational transition.” The meeting recording ends abruptly midway through her speech, but it was recorded in the meeting minutes. She spoke at length about how working in local government can be thankless and seemed to suggest that staff morale is flagging.
“Sometimes in the midst of disagreement, scrutiny, and accountability, it is easy to forget that there are people behind these positions,” the meeting minutes reflect Crosby saying. “They have families, they have emotions, they have lives outside of work and challenges that may never be visible to the public they serve.”
Crosby added that accountability is essential to public service, and that accountability and humanity “do not have to be at odds with one another.”
“Kindness, grace, and respect can go a long way in allowing people to maintain the sense of purpose and pride that brought them to public service in the first place,” the minutes state. “The town has lost a significant amount of institutional knowledge over the last several years. Change is inevitable, and sometimes it is necessary, but the pace of change can have real implications for employees’ organizational morale and service delivery.”
The mayor and commissioners gave comments after Crosby but notably did not thank Fitts for his work, according to the minutes.
With Fitts out, there was some back-and-forth between the commissioners about whether it was appropriate for Crosby to act as manager and finance director at the same time.
Commissioners Roa and Quentin Miles voted against her appointment.
“There is no separation of duties there if [Crosby] is the town manager and the finance director,” Roa said after the vote.
The state auditor’s report had flagged that a former interim town manager, Taiwo Jaiyeoba, had been approving his own reimbursement requests. Roa and Miles worried that Crosby doubling up on jobs would create similar potential conflicts of interest. But they were outvoted by Commissioners Baxter, Kyle Adams, and Amber Davis. (Mayor Harrison is not allowed to vote except to break ties.)
Finance Department Dwindles
Days before Fitts’ administrative leave began, on July 31, Zebulon’s lone accountant, Andrea Peters, was terminated. She had been with the town since May 2023.
“I was fired. I didn’t leave willing[ly],” Peters wrote in a message to the INDY. “Who is left? No one really. The lady that does payroll and water payments but has nothing to do [with] the day to day of financial ops.”
“Cherry [Bekaert, an outside accounting firm,] was brought in but only weeks after,” Peters continued, “so there was literally no one in finance for over a week.”
Peters added that she could not answer questions about Fitts’ departure, “as I want to protect my former director who dedicated his entire career to the town.” She did not respond to follow-up questions about why she was fired.
In September, Finch, the communications director, told the INDY in an email that the finance department is currently staffed by Crosby, who is serving as interim director, Fire Chief Chris Perry, who is serving as deputy chief finance officer, and Cat Woods, who is listed on the department’s landing page as a payroll specialist.
“The Town is also receiving support from two contracted consultants with Cherry Bekaert,” Finch added.
Town Clerk Departs
Jeremy Crawford was hired as town clerk in November 2025 and resigned effective August 31, about nine months later.
He announced his intent to resign at a June 1 council meeting, explaining he would be joining his wife’s law firm as the operations manager. He praised Crosby, the department directors, and the town staff, who he said “genuinely [care] about the people we serve.”
“Looking forward,” Crawford continued, “I would encourage the board to continue to support the staff, trusting their professional judgment and providing them with the space and resources needed to do their best work.”
Crawford repeated this sentiment in an interview with the INDY in early September, emphasizing that from his vantage point, the board of commissioners, not the town staff, are the source of Zebulon’s “challenges.”
“The staff was great to work with,” Crawford said. “The town has a very talented group of employees that are trying to do everything they can to serve the community, but I think the community is going to have challenges with regards to who they elect, and until they get the right combination of people in there that are focused on the town, and they can work together, they’re going to continue to have some challenges.”
Kim Worley currently serves as interim town clerk.
Staff Turnover Compounds
In March, town attorneys Eric Vernon and Samuel Slater resigned their positions after 17 and seven years, respectively.
The Wake Weekly first reported Vernon’s and Slater’s departures. They did not offer a reason at the time, and did not respond to the INDY’s recent requests for comment.
“Losing that much institutional knowledge and core leadership within a six-month window is undeniably challenging for any municipality,” Roa wrote. “When you experience that level of turnover in your primary legal and financial offices, it inevitably creates severe operational strain.”
Roa also praised Dan Hartzog Jr., Zebulon’s interim town attorney, who he said has been “stellar” during “a very transitional period.”
Vernon, Slater, Fitts, Peters, and Crawford join a lengthening list of former town staff from the past two years.
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